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PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission will begin discussions with architectural and engineering firms in early May to draw up plans for a possible new Wood County 911 Center on the ground where the old county jail once stood in downtown Parkersburg.
On Monday, Wood County Administrator Marty Seufer told commissioners that meetings were being set up with firms to begin as early as next week.
The county has been looking at possible uses for the 170-foot by 170-foot lot, including a new 911 center with the possibility of being able to do some storage.
Seufer said they have the dates of May 3, 6 and 10 scheduled for the interviews, but the companies themselves have not been locked down yet and have not been announced. Questions are being drawn up for officials to consider during the interview process, Seufer said.
Wood County 911 Director Rick Woodyard wants to take officials on a tour of the 911 center in Putnam County. Woodyard said it is a facility that encompasses the 911 center, emergency management offices and the health department.
"They have a complete complex there," he said.
Woodyard said that complex has seven to eight computer assisted dispatching positions there. Wood County would need 10 to 12 positions, he said.
Officials have talked about maintaining the center on Core Road as a backup site or a site to be utilized in addition to the main facility, if it would ever be needed.
Woodyard said some state lawmakers in Charleston are looking about having six centers or so statewide that could handle dispatching duties for the whole state. Both Woodyard and Wood County Sheriff Steve Stephens said they not want to see local control of the 911 center diverted to someone else.
Woodyard said the State Police will start dispatching out of Charleston soon to show that it can be done. He said one of the state police dispatchers, who worked in the Wood County Center, applied for a job locally because they did not want to make a daily drive to Charleston.
In other business, commissioners discussed the proposed sale of the Memorial Bridge by the City of Parkersburg to a private company. Commissioner Robert Tebay asked if the bridge would be considered in Wood County since the state border is just off the Ohio side of the river.
Since it would be owned by a private company as a business interest, would the county be receiving any tax revenue from it, Tebay asked.
''Since it would be in Wood County, wouldn't it be taxed in Wood County,'' Tebay asked.
Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure said he assumed it would be. Officials said it would not be considered a government entity anymore. They would look into the matter further.
The commission approved appointing Dwane Weekley, Thomas Blondin, Joe Martin, Jason Matthews, Mike Shook and Rick Woodyard to the Wood County 911 Advisory Board.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com